Wage differences among industries

The chart shows "industry wage differentials" for a number of manufacturing and service-sector industries—the differentials compare wages in the industries shown to wages in the miscellaneous plastics manufacturing industry, controlling for occupational composition.

For example, on average, the wages paid any given occupation in the motor vehicles manufacturing industry are 32 percent higher than those in the miscellaneous plastics industry. At the other end of the spectrum, the wages paid to given occupations in the shoe stores industry were 72 percent below the occupations’ wages in miscellaneous plastics manufacturing.

There are a number of factors that may explain industry wage differentials. Among them are (1) differing levels of skills among workers in given occupations, (2) degree of workers’ exposure to unpleasant, risky, or hazardous workplace conditions, and (3) the use of wage differentials to reduce employee turnover, absenteeism, or shirking.